April 6, 2007
Sun power on Tahiti
There is plenty of sun on Tahiti! A good example is Mr. Michel Derhan. With his solar panels he produces 5 kW to run everything in his house. The remaining power he sells for a good price to the public net. Like this he does not need an expensive battery bank.
He also produces his hot water with the sun. The water flows through black tubes covered with glass on his roof. In the background you can see Pachamama. Michel Derhan offered TOPtoTOP his mooring for the time we spent in Switzerland. - Thank you very much, Michel!
Sabine thanks also to Optician Yves-Louis Perret from Bienne, Switzerland. His sun glasses are really top for the Southern sun!
Back on Pachamama we are busy to set the sails and to transport all our equipment stored at Michel Derhan's place back to the boat. Fortunately our children like the life wests from Bucher&Walt.
Coming from the Swiss winter they were not used to the heat, sweat a lot and a cool bath was always welcome.
We could not safe our batteries. The person looking after Pachamama did not control the water level. 25 l were missing! Batteries in Tahiti are very expensive, so we are still looking for a solution. Anke Altermann from California, who writes sometimes a commend, was helping a lot with a good contact to a battery manufacturer. Fortunately we have our Megasol solar panels and Superwind wind generators, like this we are able to run our system (fridge etc.) during the day.
Finally a surprise: Salina makes "kaki" and "pipi" in the pot! Her birthday will be next Wednesday the 11.4., call if you like to know how to do it: 00689 24 47 40 (-12 h).
... and here a nice Email from Michel Hueter, EDA, Presence Switzerland:
"Lieber Dario,
mit Freude kann ich Dir besätigen, dass wir mit Euch im Vorfeld der Expo 2010 durch China touren möchten, um Eure Message zu streuen und dabei die Schulen in den Schweizer Pavillon zu locken..."
Happy Easter to all!
April 26, 2007
Salina is 2, Andri is 6
The sport of the local kids is sailing. They like to be on Pachamama where Salina gives tours and shows our solar panels.
To test our thermostat we got help from the nearby mechanical school, where we also made a speech. Their teacher "Gilles" liked to see our solar panels and wind generators; his wife "Tao" was more interested in Andri.
On Easter Sabine and Salina were painting eggs for our neighbors.
There was also Salina's second birthday. The party was, like on Robinson Island, again on Pachamama.
On the 25th of April Andri was 6 month and it was his first day eating.
Now I have already two assistance to do the expedition report ... and after all this hard work to select the right picture and edit the text we are exhausted..
